Toronto has recorded a $99 million surplus for the six-month period ended June 30, 2013 it has been announced. Projections indicate that the year-end net surplus is anticipated to be $58.544 million. Higher than planned revenues for Toronto Building, mainly from a sustained high volume of permit application intake and lower than planned Ontario Works caseload costs, plus under-spending in salaries and benefits due to unfilled staff vacancies, has resulted in City operations being under-spent by $28.553 million or 3.2 per cent at June 30, 2013. Higher than planned revenue from the Municipal Land Transfer Tax and Third Party Sign Tax also contributed to the net variance.
Premier will oppose fast-track Senate abolition
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Premier Wynne has decided to formally oppose the fast-track plan of the Harper government for abolition of the Senate. The province filed papers with the Supreme Court of Canada this week arguing against the streamlined formula. In the past, the Premier has offered up the notion of the Senate as a body of “sober second thought”. Federal Democracy Minister Pierre Polliviere will appear before the high court justices to argue that Ottawa has the power to shut down the un-elected body using the “7/50 Rule”. That is, the House of Commons would be able to abolish the Senate with the support of any seven provinces representing 50 per cent of the population. The Bulldog believes the “second thought” argument offered by the Premier does not hold water. It is not true and is an insult to Canadians who govern themselves in cities and provinces without an un-elected ornamental gallery of party hacks burning up millions of dollars. With respect to the Premier, she would be hard put to cite a single example of jurisdictions that eliminated their upper chambers and had any regret. Nova Scotia, New Zealand, Sweden — they’re doing fine, thanks. How about Ontario? We haven’t heard any nostalgia for the “Executive Council”, abolished in 1838 after the people of Ontario rebelled. The Senate is and always has been simply a device for lubricating the machinery of the party in power. Who on earth is the Premier listening to?
Cigar party dodged sidewalk repairs by hours
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What a difference a few hours makes when you are planning a customer appreciation night. This is the sidewalk outside Smokin’ Cigar this morning (Friday, August 30). Last night, as chronicled in the post below, Smokin’ Cigar had a party on this spot. As disruptive as the sidewalk construction has been, however it seems the crews are making good headway and replacement concrete is being set down very quickly. Looks like they will easily complete the work, which extends from Moore Ave. to Eglinton Ave, by the target date of September 30, 2013.
Smokin’ Cigar holds customer appreciation night
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There was lots of action on South Bayview last night (Thursday, August 29) as Smokin Cigar held its customer appreciation night. Congenial owner Trae (inset upper left with friend) provided a Cohiba-quality show of music and dancing for guests. There was free ice cream from the Sno-Cup truck and that well-known party guy Fred Pierce of Bennington Heights was there with his aquamarine Amphicar CAR H2O. Good fun.
Tenants are evicted — let the lease inquiries begin
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Having evicted the tenants from the property known as the Talbot apartments on Bayview Ave., the management company has now posted signs inviting leasing inquiries. The last two tenants of the 1939 buildings struck a deal with the Manitoba government-owned company that has been trying to evict them. As readers of The South Bayview Bulldog will know, the holding company, ADMNS Kelvingrove, told all tenants in April that they had to get out so it could renovate the apartments. As posted earlier, this action seemed at the time — and it still seems — like a device to get long-time tenants paying lower rents out of the units so that they could be upgraded for new better-heeled tenants. The management company employed by ADMNS Kelvingrove, HPI Realty Management, 21 St.Clair East, is inviting leasing inquiries. HPI, which also is known as High Peak, boasts on its website that it is known for a “pragmatic approach to problem solving.” No doubt. It’s an approach deeply appreciated we daresay by its ultimate superior in this matter, the Civil Service Superannuation Board of Manitoba, a pension fund ultimately answerable to the NDP government of the province.Bicycle central has its own special issues
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It’s not likely that South Bayview will ever become the same kind of “bike central” that now occupies the intersection of Sherbourne and Carlton Sts. at the northeast corner of Allan Gardens. For one thing, bicycle lanes like those now operating on Sherbourne eliminate all parking. Not too much need for parking there but you may have read how the so-called restricted bike lanes, like the ones on Sherbourne, are set to be installed on Harbord St. Businesses there are seriously concerned. In the composite picture you can see how the designers of the lanes have tried to reconcile TTC loading and unloading. Passengers have to cross the active bike lane. We assume the bikes are supposed to stop for pedestrians but this may be uncharted water. The yellow section of sidewalk is dimpled plastic like the kind used to trim the edges of the Yonge subway platform. In the side pictures (top) a man steps off the bus into the bike lane. He may or may not have looked to see if a bike was coming. Lower picture shows the west side of Sherbourne where roughly piled and locked up bikes await the return of their owners Several bike racks on the street looked like this.
Hey, we didn’t create the list of livable cities
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There’s nothing like a list of rankings in which Toronto has a stake to start the twaddle rolling in the Queen City. After the Englishmen at the Economist magazine ranked English-speaking cities first, third, fourth (Toronto) and fifth among 140 livable cities, the experts were un-caged to comment. In Toronto the tedious Christopher Hume was moaning about everything from transit to affordability to the apparently multiplying number of “priority neighborhoods” Okay, but do people who live in such places even know they are cast in this unsavoury light? The Anglo prejudices of those chappies at the Economist notwithstanding, Toronto is a nice place because of the people who founded it, and whose polite and tolerant culture prevails for the most part to this day. All are welcome and somehow those who came later really get that, because they like it here. It’s common knowledge in the affluent realms of Beijing that you send your precious sons and daughters to Toronto not Chicago. Perhaps it is a low blow to point out that Damascus (for heavens sake) was last on the list and Mogadishu somehow or other got left out. Hey, we didn’t compile the list. Previous post
Kim’s former girlfriend executed says report
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A bloody series of executions in North Korea is being reported by papers in South Korea and Hong Kong. One of the dead is said to be the former girlfriend of the little dictator Kim Jung un. The executed were members of three of North Korea’s most popular music bands, the Unhasu Orchestra, the Wangjaesan Light Music Band and the Moranbong Band. The slaughter of the singer, Hyon Song Wol (left) was supposedly triggered by the making of a pornographic video of band members which some of them were said to be selling. Analysts in Japan say however that regardless of whether such a video exists, it cannot be the reason for such a harsh reaction. Some think that there is a scent of politics or revenge in the air. Kim Jung un’s wife, Ri Sol ju (right) used to be a singer in the Unhasu Orchestra. So far as anyone knows, she is doing fine. An expert on North Korean affairs believes the reported machine-gun executions were done for “political reasons.” “If these people had only made pornographic videos, then it is simply not believable that their punishment was execution,” Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University and an authority on North Korean affairs, told The Daily Telegraph. “They could have been made to disappear into the prison system there instead. “There is a political reason behind this,” he said, suggesting that the groups may have been leaning towards a rival faction in Pyongyang’s shadowy political world. “Or, as Kim’s wife once belonged to the same group, it is possible that these executions are more about Kim’s wife,” Professor Shigemura added. The nickname Kim Jung Unstable is there for reason, it seems.
Mr. Levitt gets “attractive offer” on a new Ferrari
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Toronto lawyer Howard A. Levitt (inset) is a man who knows an exciting car and a good deal. After his $192,000 silver-gray beauty was submerged in the Simcoe Street underpass, the local dealership offered him what has been called “a very attractive offer” on a new one. Same colour and everything. It was one of the most tweeted pictures to come out of the great July downpour — that’s the one that stranded a GO train. Mr. Levitt had to abandon his car because he was scheduled to appear in court in Ottawa. Wisely, he chose to catch his flight rather than try to get his car out of the soup. Previous post
Timeless flashback asks how to pick the real Constable Hall?
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It was August 2013 and a genial policeman was helping people through the bomb-damage mess of sidewalk reconstruction on South Bayview. The Bulldog wrote this:
The west side of Bayview Ave is still a mess with sidewalk repairs but hapless pedestrians can at least take a moment to talk with Constable John Hall (left) who is safely getting people on their way. There would be no trouble picking the real PC Hall if he were in a lineup with Hulk Hogan. But, the Toronto copper does have one of the better Hogan style mustaches we’ve seen. Of course, PC Hall has to keep his face hair more conservative than the flamboyant wrestler showman. Say hello to the affable PC John and tell him you admire his HH mustache.
Toronto ranks fourth among 140 in livable cities
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Count them down — Melbourne, Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. They are the top five cities judged most livable in the whole darn world. It is a judgement call to re-define all judgment calls but at the end, one would have to say that the Economist (magazine) Intelligence Unit has picked some nice places. Note how few are in Europe. And how many are in Canada. And that none is in the U.S. The annual survey of 140 cities uses more than 30 factors to determine a city’s livability with a score out of 100. Vancouver scored 97.3 with high scores in areas such as health care, education ,culture and environment. Cities are also scored on political and social stability, crime rates and the standard of infrastructure, including public transport. Vancouver held the No. 1 spot for nearly a decade but lost marks this time for crime rates, availability of quality housing and congested road networks. Anyway, there’s Toronto at number four all sweaty about “gridlock” and “what-the-hell-has-the-mayor-done-now?” Still a good place to live, especially a little patch just west of the Don River called by carefree scribblers South Bayview.
Premier Kath last smoked pot in about 1978
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The Premier says she smoked pot 35 years ago. That was the last time she did that, the 60-year-old leader of the Ontario Liberal Party said today (Wednesday, August 28). Unlike her federal counterperson, Justin Trudeau, the Don Valley West (Leaside and East York) MPP said only that the country needs a “good debate” about the legal status of the weed. So, no toke shops yet on Millwood Road it seems.